Purse State Park, Maryland

Fieldtrip Details

The Calvert Marine Museum Fossil Club is sharing this excursion with our club members twice
this year.

June 4, 2016 & June 18, 2016: Purse State Park, Marbury MD.

June 4: Meetup at 11:30 AM (low tide a little after noon).

This trip is hosted by Robert Ertman of the Calvert Marine Museum
Fossil Club. Signup with Bob Ertman by email atrobertertman@msn.com,
sooner rather than later (please include cell phone number).
Detailed directions at signup.
Bob's cell is 410-533-4203 but email is better.

Aquia formation (Late Paleocene, about 60 million years ago).
This site is on the Potomac River in Charles County, MD. Best known
for internal molds of the gastropod Turritella sp. (more than you
can carry out); occasional crocodile, ray, shark teeth (Otodus
sp., and Striatolamia sp.) and petrified wood (also
some nice specimens of jasper and other minerals).

Access to the site requires a moderate hike through the woods,
and sometimes rather strenuous hiking and climbing over trees along
the water's edge (there were no problems when we were there in
June). Collecting is mostly by beachcombing along the riverbank;
screening may be productive (it's a long hike for a wood-frame
screen; if you want to screen a kitchen colander would be better).

The wood is not from local deposits but was carried down river by
ice rafts, formed when the river froze solid all the way down to the
bed. It’s older, harder, and shinier than the
petrified wood we find near Odessa.